Page 108 of When to Call a Blitz

That evening, we bundle up in our winter clothes, grabbing some blankets as we go, and head outside to the back porch, where we lay a couple blankets down.

The three of us lay there under the setting sun, talking more about Heidi’s dad and love stories.

Chapters of life.

Eras that we enter.

A new chapter in life doesn’t mean that the old one was bad, or that it’ll be forgotten at all. It just means that you’re opening yourself up to the continuation of a story that you don’t want to end.

And as the sky turns pink, and I look over at my girls and their cold, red noses, the sunset reflecting in their eyes, I know that I never want this chapter to end, and one day when Juniper gets older and moves on to start her own life, a new chapter will start.

And I know Heidi will be right there with me, as she’ll always be.

47

HEIDI

The sun is setting over the horizon, and I’ve got the not so quiet giant here next to me, chatting away about his life. About his secrets.

And it feels so good.

The girls are still playing in the sand, occasionally looking up at the sky above them.

“I feel so small in this universe sometimes,” I tell him.

He nods, immediately seeming to understand.

“I think a sunset will forever be my dad’s,” I whisper, and Emmett’s finger grazes mine.

“It’ll always be McKenna’s too.”

I take a deep breath. “Do you ever think about what little things will belong to someone else one day?”

Emmett’s face turns to mine, his brows furrowed.

“Like, sunsets will always belong to my dad. I don’t think, in my mind, I could ever associate it with someone else. Every single time I see one I’m just going to remember those drives in the car. I’ll remember my moments with him. I can enjoy them with other people,” I gesture toward him and the girls, “But they’re never going to bemy thingwith someone else.”

“I think I’ve felt the same, but I haven’t thought about it too much,” Emmett admits, facing the sky again. A pink glow falls over his skin. “But there’s so much out there. Sun rises for example.”

I chuckle. “I don’t know if I could start getting up for those.”

“Not a morning person.”

“Not for now. I think I could make myself one. I used to run in the mornings before school. I was on the track team and it was the one time I could do what I loved without it feeling like a job.”

“If you’ve been a morning person, I think it would be fairly easy to slip back into.”

I consider it. “I think so.”

“Sun rises are great,” he says quietly. “I love them equally, I think. I just don’t have anyone to share them with.”

I sit up for a second, dusting the sand off my legs. “Well,” I tell him with confidence I haven’t seen in myself in a long time. “If you ever find yourself around me in the morning, I’ll watch it with you. That can be our thing for as long as I’m hanging around you.” I bump him with my arm, and he shoots me a dazzling smile.

“I’d like that.”

I take a deep breath, looking out over the water when a small butterfly lands on my knee. I gasp, trying to keep still. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one out this late,” I say, sticking my finger out. It crawls on top of it, sitting there for a while.

I smile over at Emmett, who, under the setting sun, looks like all the color has drained from his face. “Is it blue?” he asks.

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